Manchester United are not the only club regretting a summer signing but theirs is certainly the most expensive of all mistakes to be rectified in January.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (Chelsea)
This was surely not the future sold to Dewsbury-Hall in the summer.
The move made plenty of ostensible sense, immediately reuniting Leicester’s Player of the Season with the manager who made their promotion possible, drafting a future England international into Chelsea’s midfield jumble for £30m, or the approximate value of whichever academy graduate their finger landed on next.
In reality, it looks more like a scratching of Leicester’s PSR back as an apology for snatching their manager away. Dewsbury-Hall described Chelsea as “a club people grow up watching and hoping to one day play for” when he joined and six months into his Stamford Bridge stay, that hope goes on.
All nine of his starts have been in the Europa Conference League or Carabao Cup, with only 18 of his mere 55 Premier League minutes coming since the end of August. Chelsea are already willing to sell; the only surprise is that he hasn’t been abandoned in the reserves just yet.
Joshua Zirkzee (Manchester United)
With Manchester United suddenly open to the idea of parting with three previously unsellable assets in what might well be Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s greatest 4D cost-cutting exercise yet, it seems fair to say that no-one is safe at Old Trafford.
That was uncomfortably accurate for Zirkzee on his last visit, when Manchester United supporters cheered his substitution during what now looks to be a perfectly acceptable defeat to Newcastle just before the turn of the year.
It was a fork in the road for many. The immediate speculation was that Zirkzee was desperate to leave for the contentment of Serie A after struggling to make an impact in England. If his removal after barely half an hour in the Newcastle game was not enough, the wider reaction and subsequent reported ‘tears’ would be impossible to overcome.
Manchester United themselves certainly seem to have admitted their mistake and are scrambling around for a receipt in the blind hope of recouping their money.
But conflicting reports suggest Zirkzee actually wants to stick it out and turn things around in a fight for his place and future. It is hard not to think that scoring – or even just taking on – that chance against Liverpool might have helped.
Jaden Philogene (Aston Villa)
After the mutually beneficial deals painstakingly negotiated through the summer between Aston Villa and Everton, they are back at the table to discuss similar matters in January.
Everton pushed to sign Jaden Philogene in the summer and have not been deterred by a record of no goals or assists but one red card in 535 minutes on the Villa periphery.
Unai Emery’s side triggered their buy-back option on the forward after a fine season with Hull to fend off interest from Everton, who remain enticed by what Philogene can offer to their hilariously non-existent attack.
But the Toffees have already met their loan limit and so the financial viability of a permanent deal is being explored, to which Villa have been entirely receptive.
Apropos of nothing, Villa have sent Lewis Dobbin out on a second loan and Tim Iroegbunam was not playing for Everton before suffering an injury following their entirely legitimate summer moves. Amadou Onana has been decent, mind.
Ben Brereton Diaz (Southampton)
The record-breaking wait goes on for a Premier League win. Even Marvin Sordell and Emmanuel Villa are wincing at a run of 24 games without victory which does not look like ending soon.
His choice of clubs could certainly be questioned, even taking into account any uncontrollable obsession with fighting against relegation in red-and-white stripes. Sheffield United and Southampton have both won a single Premier League game with Brereton Diaz on their books but the Chile international missed out through injury or the ignominy of being an unused substitute against Everton.
Even within that year-long misery there are peaks and troughs. Things seemed bad at Sheffield United last campaign but six goals in 14 appearances for a team which finished bottom was impressive on a personal level – enough for the Blades to come sniffing around again and Brereton Diaz to consider their advances.
“I think Ben was an obvious one, not playing for Southampton and he was here last season,” said Chris Wilder amid reports of a loan return being put in place with a view to a permanent move. This next time next year he’ll be joining the Saints promotion push to escape Sheffield United’s slide back down into the Championship.
Sam Johnstone (Wolves)
For a team famously not blessed with a particularly flexible budget, Wolves were bizarrely eager to send some of their limited funds to Crystal Palace in the summer. It cost £10m to move Johnstone between benches at Selhurst Park and Molineux, where he remains behind the really not great Jose Sa.
Gary O’Neil was pleased with the added competition Johnstone provided in the goalkeeping department but the other read is that the England international conceded 13 goals in his first five games, was dropped due to injury and form, came back in to let in four goals in O’Neil’s final two matches and was immediately relegated to the bench once more as soon as Vitor Pereira was appointed.
The good news is that his reputation remains strong enough for another Premier League move to be possible. The bad news is that it could be to Spurs.
